All around us whales and grampuses were gambolling and spouting in vast numbers.

The weather was remarkably fine and clear.
For two or three days the calm continued, and we drifted along helplessly, until at length we found ourselves within a few miles of the promontory above mentioned.

It looked like land, and seemed to be a rocky island rising from the depths of the sea.

It was, however, all covered with ice and snow, and from this there extended eastward as far as the eye could reach an interminable line of ice, but toward the southwest the sea seemed open to navigation.

The promontory was very singular in shape, rising up to a peak which was at least a thousand feet in height, and forming a striking object, easily discovered and readily identified by any future explorer.